touching the sun
by no-dreams-tonight
Summary: I'm gonna touch the sun and show everyone that it's all or nothing. :: A next-gen drabble/one-shot collection written for Favorite Era Boot Camp. ii. Lysander/Dominique; iii. Lorcan/Lily; iv. Albus/OC; v. Molly/Lysander
1. Whirlwind

**disclaimer for entire collection**: I do not own anything you recognize.

* * *

**touching the sun**

i. _Whirlwind_

Teddy Lupin is a whirlwind, but he is the one who gives Dominique stability.

Dominique Weasley is the ice queen, but she is the one who gives Teddy warmth.

/

It begins with a prank: a cheap, rude and worthless prank. Fred's idea - who else could have come up with something like this? It is lame, but Dominique thinks it will be marvelous to see Teddy's puzzled expressions and confused looks. So she goes along with it.

James warns them; he tells them that it is never right to play with anyone's feelings. Dominique knows that, she does, but what harm is it going to do to Teddy anyway?

They're going to take Molly's name, but then Fred decides at the last minute to take hers instead. "It's better not involve someone else," he says. And maybe he is right, but why _her_?

She hasn't spoken to Teddy in ages. They'd just stopped talking after what had happened at the altar: everything had ended with a runaway bride, a weeping man and their confused families.

The worst part of it was that no one knew what had really happened at the wedding: no one knew what Teddy had told Victoire and why it had affected her enough to run away.

"Dominique likes you, you know. She always has," Fred tells Teddy at a Burrow dinner one day. It is the first one he's come to in ages and as Dominique listens from the bushes, she realises that it is the only one Victoire hasn't attended.

Teddy's features are priceless; it seems like he's struggling to grasp what Fred had said. It comes as a shock to him and Dominique is not surprised. Every other Weasley girl had shown feelings in the past for Teddy except for her: their relationship had always been platonic. _Always_.

Fred, James and her have a good laugh after Teddy has gone to talk to Uncle Charlie. James says that they will have to tell him sometime that it was a ruse, but Fred thinks otherwise. Dominique doesn't know what is better so she just tells them that they'll have to talk about it later.

The dinner starts and with it, so does Teddy's string of good deeds. It is very, very surprising at first: he's chivalrous, he is, but he's also absent-minded and he does the wrong things at the wrong time.

The first thing he does is sit next to Dominique, and she wonders why but doesn't show it. He helps her serve and makes small talk with her, smiling at her every now and then.

She tells Fred that he has to tell Teddy about the prank that night itself, before he leaves the Burrow. She doesn't tell him why, because frankly even she doesn't know.

And they do tell him.

The next week, Dominique unexpectedly sees Teddy at her store, browsing some dragonhide boots. She greets him normally like she does all customers and then asks him if there is anything in the shop he desires.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you," he says. "I had a holiday today at the Ministry so I thought I'd come see you. We haven't talked in days, Dominique. Not properly."

They do talk for some time before Dominique tells him that she has to work or she'll be setting a bad example for the employees.

"By the way, you and Fred had me that day. I almost believed you," he says as she leaves.

She can't help wondering if he still thinks that she likes him.

/

They don't meet again till the next Burrow get-together. They've been exchanging owls, but nothing more than that. Dominique thinks it is all a bit weird, but she doesn't ignore him because she doesn't want to sound impolite.

They talk nearly all evening that day, and don't leave each other's sides. Victoire is there, frowning at her, but Dominique doesn't go to her and convince her that she wasn't fraternising with the enemy.

(Teddy never _was_ her enemy)

She loves Victoire, she really does, but her frowns are so much better than her words. Dominique thinks that she'll drop by her older sister's flat later in the week and act like nothing ever happened; but not now. Victoire was in a bad mood.

She and Teddy are in the Burrow backyard, and they're talking about life - about work, about friends, about family. Then the unexpected happens.

"Dominique, do you know why Vic left me on the altar?" he asks her out of the blue.

She shakes her head and lets him know that she doesn't.

"It was because she had finally figured out what I had called her the first time we'd slept together. I hadn't called her Vic or anything close to the name," Teddy says. "I called her Dominique, because I was imagining you next to me."

And she's shocked; she's nervous and confused and she's wondrous too.

"Dom, I love you. I thought I had stopped and I thought I loved Victoire, but the other day Fred...he just brought it all back."

And maybe she loves him too; maybe she's just scared to admit it.

She doesn't _know_.

She moves her lips close to his, and he gets his close to hers, and they're about to kiss, and -

She pulls back, because there is this image of Victoire yelling her at her. She sees her mother's disapproving glare, and she sees her father warning her. It's not right. Her family should come first.

Eventually, it does come first. She runs away from Teddy. She knows that his hair is changing colour, what it does when he's a multitude of emotions. She knows he's confused, and she is, too.

Maybe one day, Victoire will be over him. Maybe one day, her family will have forgiven him. Maybe one day, everyone she cares about won't have a grudge against him.

That will be the day that she'll let herself fall for him.

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**a/n:** This is my first collection on this account, and it had to be next-gen! It is written for the Favorite Era Bootcamp on HPFC, but I'll be combining it with a challenge. The BC prompt used here was '_warmth_'. This was also written for _farways_' The Ravishing Romance Competition, where I was given the pair Teddy/Dominique. Please do review :)


	2. Shadows

**touching the sun**

ii. _Shadows_

* * *

The night is silent. There is some humming and sounds of leaves moving with the wind, but that's all. No footsteps, no light other than the one emanating from his wand.

Just Lysander.

_"Lorcan! Lorcan, get up!" he had shrieked, shaking the blonde vigorously._

_"Ugh, go to sleep, Ly. There's no monsters under your bed,"_

A memory comes rushing back.

_"The Forbidden Forest, Ly! Come on! Don't be a girl," his brother had said._

_"It's too dark, Lorcan," he had replied._

_"What, you think Voldemort is gonna come from the shadows and kidnap you?"_

Then another.

_"Let's just go home, Lils. I'm not staying here after sunset. You know I can't apparate after the dark," Lysander had told Lily._

_She had had this annoyed look on her face._

_"I can't believe you, Lysander!" she'd exclaimed, leaving him alone at the Muggle nightclub near her house."_

_Suffice to say, Lily hadn't taken him out again._

The night is silent, and Lysander clutches his wand tightly. It has been lit by "Lumos" some hours ago, and he knows it will be lit till the rays of the rising sun appear.

He's not going to rid himself of this fear anytime soon.

He's eighteen and he's _scared of the dark_. It's unbelievable, really.

He's walked alone from home in hope of getting over this phobia. He's nowhere near his objective – Lysander can't get himself to say "Nox".

He nearly jumps when he hears footsteps behind him.

"Who's that? I'm armed, you'd better not–" he stops, taking in the appearance of the girl in front of him.

She's wearing a nightgown and her white-blonde hair is cascading down her shoulders. Her skin looks precious like porcelain due to the glow of his wand.

It's Dominique Weasley. He knows she lives somewhere near here, he's just shocked she's up and kicking at this time of the night.

"Lysander?" she asks, shocked that he's here at this time of the night. "How come you're here?"

Soon, he breaks down in front of her. He tells her about his fear and how he acquired it; he tells her how it's come in the way _so many times_. He tells her how much he hates himself for fearing the dark.

"Get up," she says when he's stopped. He looks up at her.

"_Now_, Lysander," she says. He slowly gets up, and is surprised when she slides her hand into his.

"You know what you have to do. It's now or never," she says.

In that moment, their shadows are one.

Then he whispers Latin, and it's dark around them.

She helps him conquer the darkness.

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**a/n:** Dominique/Lysander written using the Boot Camp prompt 'shadows'. Sorry, I couldn't not resist using Dom xD Next up will most probably Lily/Lorcan, though, so then it'll all be good.

Please do review! :)


	3. Cliched

**touching the sun**

iii. _cliched._

* * *

It's a little bit cliche, most love stories are.

They're a boy and a girl who grew up together. His mother is her godmother (and namesake); her mother is his. From building castles of sand together to Sorting and from first heartbreaks to last kisses, they're together.

Then he asks her out.

"Lily Luna Potter, would you do the honour of being my girlfriend?"

/

The world around them is a spectrum. Violet like the flowers; indigo like the ice cream billboard round the corner. Blue sea, green grass and a very yellow sun. Orange and red hues in the sky. A world of colours.

She is a redhead and he has yellow hair very much like his mother. She is fiery and arrogant and slightly crazy. He is calm and diplomatic and anything but.

They are in love, they just don't know it yet.

"Isn't the sky beautiful today?" he asks her.

She is twirling her hair with her fingers, with her head lying comfortably in his shoulder. "Hmm," she hums. Too engrossed in her own thoughts to listen to him.

"I love the sunset," he says.

"Hmm," she responds, not caring much. He lifts his eyebrow but doesn't say anything. _Strange_.

"Do you think I should take Astronomy at N.E.W.T. level? Mum says it isn't much use, but my father says it will be a few years down the line...what do you think, Lil?"

Nothing from her.

He nearly gives up. The sun is about to set when she finally says something coherent.

"Lorcan," she mutters. A sense of urgency is there in her voice and she sits up straight. Looking ahead at the sea she says, "I know this is really sudden and everything, but I want to say something. Is that alright?"

He raises his eyebrow. "Sure, go ahead."

"Look," she looks at him. "A few months ago you asked me out and I was unsure. I didn't want to spoil what we had. I said yes because I didn't want to hurt you, but...Lorcan, I grew as a person and I realised that this is our golden time, and you are the one I want to spend it with.

"Lor, I love you."

He smiles, and his heart is beating at a never-felt-before pace. He closes the gap between them; red meets blonde and Ravenclaw blue meets Gryffindor red. The spectrum shines.

"I love you so much, Lils," he says, between kisses.

They're in love, and now, they know it.

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**a/n:** Lily/Lorcan written using Boot Camp prompt 'sunset' and for _faraways_' The Ravishing Romance Competition. I hope I did them justice. Next up is either Scorrose or MollyLysander.

This was also written for _Schermionie_'s 5, 10, 20, 50, 70, 100 Fandoms Challenge. Fandom Harry Potter of course :) Nina's (_turn out fine_) challenge on story beginnings inspired this majorly.


	4. At the back of my hand

**touching the sun**

iv. _At the back of my hand_

* * *

_The vines wrapped around him, swirling, twisting, grabbing, and he was drowning._

_Merpeople closed in on him, he was about to be eaten–_

"Ahh!" he yelled, putting his head in his hands.

"I can't play, Liz. It's the toughest pitch on earth. I'm not made for this," he told her.

"Listen, just because there's no ground beneath and only water doesn't mean you can't bloody fly!"

Liz said more, but he shut her out. He couldn't play. The Montrose stadium was horrible and it was his first league national game, damn it!

What if he fell off his broom and directly into the lake? He shuddered to think of possibilities.

The locker room seemed quiet for a while, like the team wanted to give him time for himself.

Then, he heard a whisper.

"Al," Liz whispered urgently. "Just think about how long you have wanted this. Think about your dreams and how this is where it's all come to."

It seemed as though she was over her hyper stage and had now calmed down. Hopefully, she'd be able to calm him down as well. He didn't respond.

"Come on, Al," she tried again. "You _need_ to do this."

Nothing.

"Do it for your team, Al. For those people who have come here to watch you. For your family," she urged. "Do it for your parents and for Lily and James. Do it for _me_, Al."

Then for the first time in so long, he looked up at her. There was tension and pressure written all over his face and all she felt like doing was kissing him then and there, never letting go.

She couldn't do that, of course.

"Liz," he said softly. "I want you to promise that whatever happens tonight...whether I am the worst Arrows player ever or whether I am at the doors of death, you'll always be with me."

She consoled herself by thinking that maybe it was the nerves talking - _of course_ she would be with him. That was a given.

"Nothing is going to happen, Albus Potter," she replied firmly. "And even if it does, I'm with you. You should know that."

With that, he left the locker room to threaten a reporter who'd found his way there.

He stood up to see that his teammates and coach were looking at him. He'd made a complete fool of himself, hadn't he?

"Potter, we need to go. The Magpies ain't gonna wait longer," the Arrows' coach said.

Al nodded. "Just a mo, Coach Thomas."

He took his wand out of his locker and pointed it at the back of his right hand. He muttered a spell Rosie had taught him long ago - he had no idea if it worked on skin, but it was worth a try.

The spell worked, and soon enough Al's hand had _Lisbeth Madeleine Corner_ written on them in shining black ink.

He covered the writing with his gloves and a few minutes later, Al was on the Quidditch pitch, taking in the atmosphere.

There was magic everywhere, but the true magic he felt was radiating from the back of his hand. From something as simple as the name of the woman he loved with all his heart.

/

That night, Al Potter made his debut for the Appleby Arrows against the Montrose. He scored a record sixteen times with his right hand and became the highest-scoring debutante of all time in the Quidditch League.

Critics and analysts scrutinised every move of his. His teammates pondered over how he had managed the feat. The public was awed by his performance.

Of course, none other than him knew that it had been three words on the back of his hand that had driven him closer to his dream.

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**a/n: **Here's an Albus/OC. Written for the Boot Camp prompt 'driven' and with the help of Nina's (turn out fine) story beginnings challenge, from where the first line has been taken.

Next up in, promise, MollyLysander. I just couldn't resist this.

**dedication: **this is wholeheartedly written for Pat, one of my real life best friends. It was partly inspired by something he told me the other day and I thought I should mention it :)


	5. To Fly

**dedication: **For Zee (_amaZinc_ or whatever awesome penname she's currently having) because it's her birthday on the 13th of Sept. and I love her :D

* * *

**touching the sun**

v. _To Fly_

* * *

The whole lot of her cousins were circling the skies. And Molly could do absolutely _nothing_ about it.

She had tried, she really had. It was just unfortunate that heights almost scared the magic out of her. Seeing even her idiot of a sister play just infuriated her. It didn't make things any better that there was a plain weirdo sitting besides her.

"What do you want, Scamander?" Molly asked in her usual bored voice (they said she'd inherited it from her mother - her father thought differently).

"Not anything in particular," Scamander said (which one was it anyway?). "I just thought since we're the only two who are not flying or off snogging, we should band together."

The rest of the family just _had_ to call these annoying twins, didn't they?

"Whatever, Scamander," she replied, still bored. "And Teddy and Vic aren't snogging. They're making us something to eat."

Scamander rolled his eyes. "Sure, that's exactly what they're doing."

There was a lot of cheering above so Molly looked up. It seemed that her brilliant sister had saved one of James' 'legendary' throws. Oh, just bloody _amazing_.

Molly grunted. "Why aren't you up there with them, anyway? I thought you played Quidditch."

"Wasn't in the mood," Scamander said smoothly. "What do you usually do when the rest are up there?"

"I thought you came here nearly every time, Scamander. Or was that your evil twin?" It was her turn to roll her eyes.

"I have a very nice twin, thank you very much," Scamander responded. Then he frowned. "Actually, scratch that. Lorcan is evil."

Oh, so it was Lysander Scamander she had to spend the rest of the match with.

"But to defend myself, I don't actually pay attention to bookworms such as yourself," Scamander finished. Merlin, this boy was getting on her nerves.

"I'm sure you're one of those love-em-and-leave-em types, eh, Scamander?" Molly grunted again. Scamander raised his eyebrow.

"You're talking like you're not one yourself, Weasley," he said. "Oh, wait, with that hideous face no one would look at you twice. You're one of the stalk-them-until-they-love-me-which-will-never-hap pen types, I see."

Molly almost narrowed her eyes. "That's not even a type, Scamander."

Scamander laughed, as though what she had said was very funny. "Sure thing, Weasley. As you say."

They were sitting on a bench near the Shell Cottage. The region nearby was pretty abandoned, so there was little risk of Muggles seeing teenagers flying on brooms. Which meant that Shell Cottage was the place to be for all the Weasley cousins and their friends during the Summer holidays.

It was a pity that Dominique was in France that week - her and Molly always had a great time ridiculing their brood of flying, Quidditch-loving cousins. They were their own little team of two, the odd ones out among the crazy Weasleys (and Potters).

Instead of a blonde part-Veela though, with Molly was Mr. Prick himself. Cue drumroll - _Lysander Scamander_. What kind of a name was that anyway?

Molly looked up to the sky and sighed when she saw that Lucy had saved another. Rose, the keeper of the other team, looked like she was about to kill herself by jumping off her gleaming new Cleansweep. James looked like he was about to murder his younger brother, Al, in his sleep.

Other than the fact that emotions were running wild, all of them seemed happy. Passionate about the game, loving every moment of it. And that made Molly jealous - Merlin, why did it have to be her who was born with a fear of heights? Why couldn't it be Rose, or James, or Roxanne? Why couldn't it be _Lucy_?

"I fear the dark, you know," Molly heard Scamander say. Wait, who did he think he was, trying to make conversation with her?

"That is not in any way related to my topics of interest, Scamander. Why are you even still here?"

"We're all afraid of something, no? I'm afraid of the dark, you're afraid of heights. Just saying," Scamander smiled slightly at her with that charming glint in his eye - Molly was sure that it made the girls in his year swoon. She rolled her eyes.

"Stop saying then, Scamander," Molly told him. He smirked, angering her by every second. Why wasn't he getting the message? For Morgana's sake, she didn't want him near her!

"I'm not going to," Scamander widened the smirk. "So Weasley, you want to fly, eh?"

She didn't respond.

"Well, I have a remedy for that!" Scamander grinned, making her look up.

"How can your mood fluctuate so easily, Scamander?" she asked him, groaning. Hadn't he been making fun of her a few minutes previously?

"It's Scamander talent, Weasley. So you wanna fly, Weasley?"

Molly sighed, exasperated. "You can't just teach me how to fly, Scamander!"

"Oh, I'm not gonna teach you how to fly a broomstick, Weasley," Scamander winked. He had that glint in his eye, again, like he was wildly imagining the execution of a crazy idea. Molly did not like the looks of this. "I'm gonna let you fly alongside me, the Muggle-way!"

/

And so, they found themselves near a Muggle department store some time later. It was a parking lot where they were going to commit a crime.

"So we're just gonna...steal it?" Molly questioned, slightly flabbergasted. Why had she even agreed to accompany the idiot in the first place

Oh yeah, because she was _curious_.

"Yes," Scamander nodded. His gaze was on a Muggle transport mechanism called a 'motorcycle' (seriously, what was it with these names?) that he planned to thieve.

"Just like that? And we won't get caught for it?" Molly inquired. Scamander grunted.

"No, Weasley, we won't. We're gonna return it before anyone notices it's gone. The owner is an employee of the store, he's not gonna be back here until eight at the least."

They walked to the motorcycle together, Molly a bit hesitant. Scamander seemed to know exactly what he was doing as he pulled out his wand after looking around to make sure that there wasn't a Muggle looking on. He whispered a spell on what Molly presumed was the lock to the motorcycle's engine.

"There, it's working!" Scamander exclaimed. "Come on behind. We don't want to be late."

"You've done this before, Scamander?" she asked him, hoping that he had. She wasn't about to ride this thing without anyone experienced.

"Are you kidding?" Scamander looked at her in disbelief. "Of course I have! I _live_ for driving motorcycles!"

Molly raised an eyebrow. "I thought you lived for blonde dimwits who can kiss 'amazingly'," she said, making quotation marks in the air. Scamander seemed to think.

"Them too," Scamander assured her. She rolled her eyes. "Get on, Weasley. I might just leave without you."

"You know you wouldn't do that!" she replied. Taking a deep breath, Molly climbed on the motorcycle behind Scamander.

"You good to go?" Scamander asked her, looking over his shoulders. Molly nodded in affirmative.

He started the engine of the motorcycle, and a few seconds later they were out of the parking lot. Scamander slowed down, and now she saw that they were at the beginning of a long street.

"Watch this now, Weasley," he said.

Then they were zooming through the street, the wind blowing in her face. Her red hair was scattered all over and at that moment all she wanted to do was to spread her arms (like in that Muggle movie Aunt Hermione had made the cousins watch), shut her eyes and feel the ecstasy.

She did just that. And by the end of their adventure, Molly thought that being on a motorcycle was infinitely better than on a stupid broom.

* * *

**a/n: **Molly/Lysander written for The Ravishing Romance Competition. I tried my hand at something like this after a long time and I'm glad I wrote this :)

Also written using the Boot Camp prompt 'motorcycle'. I want to know if their personalities work and everything, so please let me know in a review! Next up is...I honestly don't know. We'll just have to wait and see.


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